Paradise Lost
by ltommo
Summary: Ellen's Past. Take's place in the Toulouse/Alphonse border.


**Paradise lost **

**Short story from my series explaining Ellen's past and connections to Isley.**

The town of Renele was a small hamlet in the north-most section of Toulouse. It lay almost directly on the border between Alphonse and Toulouse. Happy people and many families lived there. The town was surrounded by mountains but was situated in a plateau of relatively flat land. Flowers bloomed in a meadow about a minutes walk from the town borders, a winding stream trickled gently through the meadow. Butterflies were in abundance, rabbits hopped playfully in the tall grass, children loved to play here.

The town was a picturesque place. Small pretty thatch roofed houses homed many families. The town had no stores so a stall selling food and sundries was set up in the village centre. Everyone crowded around the stall, a mad scramble for essentials always broke out.

A man stood In the road nearest to the town gate, blood dripping from his mouth. Yellowing teeth were visible through his smile. He dropped the carcass in the road, a red river flowed down the cobbles. The children screamed and ran away. Adults stood there wide eyed. The man let out a roar and transformed into an awakened being. He sprinted towards the townsfolk, causing a panic and mad scrambling. Three women carrying swords ran to the Awakened Being, unsheathing their swords.

'YSOLDA' One woman screamed 'GET THE VILAGERS TO SAFETY NOW !'

'Okay, Imogen' Replied Ysolda 'You and Felicity defeat the awakened one, I'll be back soon.'

Ysolda scooped up three of the children in her arms and guided everyone else out of the borders. Everyone had escaped except for a small girl, and her name… was Ellen. Ellen could see the two women clashing their swords with the figures claws, the figure looked like the monsters she had seen in the story books. His teeth were long and came down to his chin, he had two horns that had a horrible point on them, his legs were muscular and long, rather like a horses, he had long spindly arms which ended with talons that could rip someone in two.

Imogen and Felicity were parrying his blows with all their might, the din of scraping metal rung in Ellen's ears. But eventually the monster caught Imogen under her ribs and took her upper body completely off. Ellen screamed as loud as her lungs would let her. The monster looked up at her and smiled with those horrible teeth, but Felicity sliced off his arm while he was distracted. He retaliated by punching her in the face as hard as he could with his remaining arm. The sickening squelch of her brain being crushed made Ellen even more terrified. She ran across the border, she dashed to the woods hoping someone would be there. She came to an old hollow tree near the the centre of the small forest. She hid herself inside it and waited. She could hear the monsters footsteps creeping towards her. She could hear the monster smelling for her.

'Come on out little one' The monster said ' I won't hurt you, I promise…'

Ellen held her breath, making sure he wouldn't be able to find her. But then more footsteps were heard. It was a Claymore. The clink of her heels made it obvious it was her. She began fighting the monster again, Ellen could hear the clashing metal again. Ellen ran even further north as fast as she could, she was terrified now.

All she wanted was her Mommy, but she knew that she had to keep running from the monster. An hours running later, she passed the Toulouse/Alphonse border. The snow fell softly, drifting in the breeze, the night air making the snow thicker and harder to see in. Ellen could feel a storm coming, she knew that tonight she would need warmth. She came across a cave, recently inhabited. A fire roared through the night. Inside were two sleeping bags lain across a rack . One for an adult, and a spare one. A pot sat on the fire, a stew bubbled away inside. She didn't know what meat it was, but it stunk. Ellen pulled the spare bed from the rack and settled it in the corner of the cave, she soon drifted off into a deep slumber.

Wind howled outside the cave, snow carried away like embers in a hurricane. A shadow walked through the snow, he always came out at this time.

'Ah' The figure said 'I do love the snow, the refreshing grasp of winter is what attracted me here'

He often enjoyed coming here. He spoke his mind to the wind, hearing the echo's off in the distance. It reminded him that he didn't need anyone else to get by.

'What's this ?' The man said 'I'm sensing a small life force here… Inside my cave !'

The figure walked into the cave, he pulled off his hooded cloak to reveal long silver hair, and attractive features for a man. He looked around the cave to see a little bundle huddled inside his spare sleeping bag, by the looks of it a small human. He decided not awaken her as he soon realised it was a small girl by the aura she was releasing. He stoked the fire with more wood, got out a book from his bag and read until morning. He wouldn't feed yet.

The sun rose quickly in Alphonse. The orange glow peeped through the edge of the cave. Ellen awoke to see the fire had gone out and that someone had recently been here with her too, though she couldn't see anyone else inside the cave.

'Good Morning' A man's voice came from outside the cave 'I trust you slept well ?'

It startled Ellen as she got out of the bag. Her hair was damp and matted together as it had been barraged with snow. She slowly made her way outside to find an attractive young man smiling back at her.

'Sir' Ellen politely said 'I apologise for using your home without your co…'

'Hush now' The man said back 'I realise you had no alternative than to freeze to death so it's quite alright, and please, I prefer being called Isley'

'I-Isley' Ellen stammered 'I cannot apologise enough for intruding, I hope you can forgive me..'

'Of course' Isley smugly said 'Now, how about some breakfast ?'

The porridge bubbled away on the fire, which was now rekindled. The squeak of a kettle boiling warmed Ellen's heart, reminding her of home. At last the Kettle boiled and the tea flowed. Ellen greedily gulped the mug down, though she felt bad for not offering Isley any, he just sat there and smiled at her.

The porridge was delicious. The warmth of the food made her feel a lot more at ease.

'Thank you very much Isley' Ellen said, finally remembering her manners, she shot him a big smile 'my name is Ellen, I think I forgot to tell you…'

'That's quite alright Ellen' Isley replied

'Would you mind If I ask you a few questions ?' Ellen inquired

'Of course not my dear' Isley smiled

'Thank you, so might I ask why you live here on your own ?' Ellen inquired, excitement shown through her smile

'I live here because I deny the human realm, you see I'm not like the rest of the humans…' Isley replied, suddenly getting more serious

'Oh well' Ellen cheerfully replied 'I'm not like everyone else either, I get told I'm too happy and energetic'

'My dear' Isley responded 'I'm not like that at all'.

'Oh… Okay' Ellen said, almost dejectedly

'How did you end up here Ellen ?' Isley asked

'Well… It's a long story, yesterday a monster came and started killing people… But then 3 women came, they had big swords and had silver eyes, I ran away before the monster could get me.'

Isley sat up straight, his face contorted in confusion.

'Ellen I'm going to your hometown to see this 'monster'' Isley stated, looking seriously at her

'Then I will come too' Ellen said 'I want to see my Mom and Dad and my Aunt.'

'Okay, but be warned that if the monster is still there, then he could get you' Isley warned

He went over to the stack of beds in a cubby-hole in the corner, he put his hand in the stack and withdrew a sword, much like the one Claymores had used. He grabbed the sheath and secured it on his back, inserting the sword. He wrapped his cloak over the sword and his shoulders.

Last nights blizzard had long since subsided, leaving the morning air crisp and chilling.

Ellen shrunk back into her robe, her eyes were stinging from the wind chill. She could see the nearby area, but more notably, the wood where she had hidden far off in the distance. It wasn't a long journey back home, but Renele was fairly well hidden. They had never suffered any war or battle because of where they were situated, though they would get the odd wandering Yoma, but they had never had an Awakened Being.

The crunch of fresh leaves sounded underfoot. The aftermath of yesterday was starting to become apparent, spots of blood were splattered on the trees. Isley inspected the spots and searched around for the source, which was soon found. The corpse of a Claymore lay on the floor. Her face had been completely taken off and many of her fingers had gone. Ellen was sickened, she went behind a tree and threw up. The face of that Claymore would haunt her forever, she dreaded to see what had happened to the town. She wiped her mouth clean with her sleeve and kept walking with Isley.

The edge of the trees was in sight, and soon the town became visible. Nothing could have prepared Ellen for what she saw there.

The town lay in ruins. Corpses and blood paved the streets, and among them lay the other two Claymores she saw killed. The monster had long since left, and hadn't eaten by the looks of it either. She came to the cottage she called Home, the door lay off its hinges on the ground inside the cottage. The sound of gnawing and grumbling came into earshot.

'Ellen…' Isley warned 'Stay close' He unsheathed his sword and entered through the broken doorframe.

The cottage had been ransacked. Tables, chairs, paintings and memorabilia lay broken on the floor, amongst the mess was Ellens bear, whom Ellen had received from a close family friend on her first birthday. Ellen cautiously stepped through the rubble and picked up her bear, but as she bent over to pick her bear up something hit the back of her head.

Ellen looked up and screamed in terror. The monster was perched on a wooden beam that held the cottage roof up, the body of Ellen's mother lay from the beam also. The blood dribbled from the monsters smile, the blood had pooled below where he perched.

'We meet again' Said the monster, but he directed the statement towards Isley ' It's been an awfully long time my comrade…' The monster crashed to the floor, breaking a few wooden floor boards which splintered under the force of the impact.

'It has hasn't it Romaro ?' Isley said 'But you know why that is.'

Ellen stared blankly at her mother. The expression on her mothers face was one of a bittersweet sadness, her mother was of a fair complexion and had a faint grimace on her face. Ellen altered her gaze towards the monster who killed her, and rage filled her up.

'Isley, why do you have a human trailing around with you ? The only use humans have is for food !' Romaro Chuckled 'I've enjoyed eating your family little one… How their cries made me smile !'

'Ellen I want you to get behind me right now' Isley ordered

Ellen slid behind Isley and shut her eyes. She heard two foot steps and a blade singing as it flew through the air. Isley put her hand on her shoulder and turned her around.

'Ellen…' Isley said 'I will look after you now… Someone as young as you will never survive out here on your own'

Ellen opened her eyes and stared at the body of the monster. She rolled him over and pulled the Teddy Bear from underneath his corpse. Without a word she walked to Isley, took his hand and left Renele for good.


End file.
